X
It was tearing, splitting apart.
Just like a child playing with fallen leaves, pulling them apart piece by piece, shaking the fragments in their palm, and then scattering them to the sky.
Fundamentally, there was no difference.
The only distinction was that what was being torn apart now was not a mere ‘leaf.’
It was herself.
Hoarse shouts and laughter mingled with frenzied whimpers and wails, a cacophony of hatred, pain, sorrow, anger, joy, and euphoria, all cheering and crying out:
Love.
The twisted humanoid monster cupped its fallen ‘hands’ with its conjoined wrists, extending its neck, enveloped in gray fluid, three meters high.
Innumerable shimmering fragments undulated within the fluid, emitting a faint glow even in the darkness, proclaiming rebirth and ‘love.’
Yet, in her eyes, this world was so distorted, ugly, and filthy.
Filthy lines outlined the ‘forest,’ and the sky held no beautiful stars. Instead, countless conceptual ‘eyes,’ obscured by a veil, could be seen at every moment.
Even the air was thick with an incredibly foul stench.
But, but!
Her love was boundless.
“Heeheeheeheeheeheehee—”
The deranged monster merely laughed, and invisible distortions followed like shadows, snapping and pulverizing trees, turning them into swirling members of the black vortex around her.
Before the concept of the Transcended, physics was merely a tedious stumbling block, easily overcome by this ascended monster.
It was like a ‘snap.’
A carelessly dropped hand flew into the air, brushing a floating head even higher.
An unmistakably human head immediately soared up from five hundred meters away, trailing a bloody spine and contorted with confusion and spasms of pain.
‘This isn’t good, is it?’
‘What if it frightens the children?’
‘Should I eat it?’
‘No, no, no.’
‘How could a person be something to eat?’
She gently caressed the head with her magic, hoping to bring peace to this poor soul defiled by the world.
The head cried and laughed aloud, its laughter filling the space for a poor child a kilometer away who had inadvertently looked up and seen the falling head.
Then.
‘Who was she again?’
The monster paused abruptly.
Disheveled wind swept past the delicate ears affixed to her chest, creating a rustling sound.
The monster still remembered the girl who exuded the scent of love and hope.
She moved through towering buildings, defeating countless monsters, constantly surrounded by people.
Though the question was unimportant, the monster couldn’t help but wonder:
‘Why did I remember that girl?’
‘Did that girl even exist in this filthy and ugly world?’
The monster did not know.
She only knew that a compatriot would lead them, a great existence known as the Prophet.
While not as omnipotent as their Blurred Memory, the Prophet had stepped forward in Blurred Memory’s absence.
Yes, the Prophet had convinced her.
‘—How strange, she actually remembered today.’
The wildly laughing monster reined in her expression, displaying an emotion called ‘confusion’ for the first time on her barely discernible face.
‘This is good, of course it’s good.’
The monster suddenly thought with delight, ‘If I could remember the reason I came here, remember the Prophet’s promise to me.’
‘Then wouldn’t she have a chance to go further, perhaps even recall in one go—’
‘Who exactly was that magical girl?’
The shattered ‘heart’ revealed emotions of joy, until another gust of wind reached her chest.
This time, the monster finally sensed something was wrong. She looked down, stunned.
The wind that reached her ears symbolized two fist-sized holes.
The first hole pierced through the core of her chest, and the second penetrated her neck.
‘An attack?’
‘But there’s no feedback from magic or anomalous rules!’
The monster opened her mouth wide, wanting to retaliate, but found that her usually omnipotent magic was utterly unresponsive, like stagnant water.
It was like a fish accustomed to water jumping ashore—
No, to be precise, she had been thrown onto a grill: the holes were continuously expanding with time.
To the monster, magic was everything. Magic allowed her to ignore all injuries, healed her damaged body, and soothed her tormented soul.
So, to lose her soul, wouldn’t that mean… death?
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The monster instinctively felt terror, letting out a series of discordant, piercing shrieks from her throat.
Only then did the monster realize how ugly her own screams were.
Fear spread through her thoughts, yet it paradoxically accelerated her pace of thinking.
For the first time, she crossed the enigma’s threshold and found the answer she had desperately sought.
The monster was the girl herself.
The moment she realized the truth, it was as if the ugly lines were smoothed by an invisible force, and colors once again outlined a complete and clear vision.
However, the monster herself remained ugly.
Her severed head, until its very last moment, was still thinking:
‘So this is what I truly am, a monstrous, inhuman form—’
****
Lu Zhichuan retracted his hand.
He silently watched the monster begin to collapse, while a shifting blade materialized out of thin air beside him.
Lu Zhichuan’s attack was simple; to put it bluntly, it was like that of a primitive man.
He picked up a new pebble and rubbed it against the blade’s edge.
The instant the pebble touched the blade, it seemed to sever a certain haziness and cut through countless distortions.
At least for a few brief seconds, it exhibited an unpretentious yet ‘striking’ quality.
But to Lu Zhichuan, the only difference for this pebble was that it briefly acted as an extension of the Sword’s properties.
He used Su Qingyao’s magic, aimed, calculated the trajectory for the throw, and then, with a ‘thwip,’ launched the pebble.
He had, of course, witnessed the demise of the Rank Six monster’s consciousness.
However, a Rank Six Transcended Calamity derivative, while simple to dispatch — as easy as kicking a stray dog — was at least as resilient as a Transcended being in a museum exhibit.
In short, they were incredibly tenacious.
This was merely the first ‘violated’ soul he had severed.
A new soul would naturally emerge before the pebble arrived, only to endure his strike.
Lu Zhichuan couldn’t be bothered to calculate how many souls would ultimately be stripped away.
With a cold expression, Lu Zhichuan was more concerned about the situation elsewhere.
The ‘boss’ that exceeded the limit had been dealt with, yet countless malevolent entities, lurking in the shadows, appeared and vanished in very short intervals.
This could only prove one thing:
The ‘porter’ capable of effortlessly summoning a large number of Mind Collapse mothers had already entered the fray.
However, their target should still be Su Qingyao.
For now, Lu Zhichuan deemed it best not to interfere.
Although he was not incapable of fighting independently, facing a multitude of enemies would inevitably require him to use some sensitive methods.
Especially when confronted with what Lu Zhichuan had seen the moment he used his magic:
A gray sea.
Your next favorite story awaits! Don't miss out on To Become the Strongest and Reclaim My Manhood – click to dive in!
Read : To Become the Strongest and Reclaim My Manhood
